Ten villages evacuated as Castellón wildfire advances ‘very violently’

The Villanueva de Viver forest fire, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, continues to spread uncontrolled. The first alarm call was made at 12.50pm on Thursday, warning of the fire in the inland area of the province, on the border with Aragon.

In about seven hours the flames devastated nearly 1,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of several villages.

Residents had to suddenly flee their homes and the advance of the

flames caused several roads to be closed to traffic. Ximo Puig, president of the Valencian regional government went to the advanced command post, set up in Barracas, to follow the urgently deployed fire-fighting operation, hoping that the fire can be stabilised this Friday, 24 March.

The Director General of the Interior of the regional government, Salva Almenar, reported that the evolution of the fire has been "very violent" and its propagation capacity to spread is high. The fire fighting teams have not yet been able to completely surround the wildfire. There have already been more than 1,000 hectares burned since the fire started.

Almenar said that the change in the wind is making the extinction tasks problematic and that it is a difficult time, despite the amount of both air and ground teams that are working on the extinction.

However, Almenar stressed that the priority is people, hence the eviction of the municipalities and the setting up of the Segorbe sports centre, with a capacity for 600 people, to accommodate residents who need it. Buses have also been made available for the safest transfer. "It's not just a forest fire, it has become a Civil Protection emergency," he said.

The first municipality to be evacuated was Fuente la Reina, followed by Los Calpes, Puebla de Arenoso, Los Cantos, La Monzona, Montanejos, the district of La Alquería de Montanejos and La Artejuela, the district of Arañuel. In addition, several nuclei of Villanueva de Viver have been evacuated. In the province of Teruel, where the fire has also passed by, the municipality of Olba and several rural areas have been evacuated.

Late last night, the emergency services reported that two more areas have been evacuated, Montán and Arañuel. Two buses were sent to each of the municipalities. One of the buses will distribute people from the Montán nursing home. The Red Cross, meanwhile, will set up a shelter in Onda to receive those displaced from Arañuel.

The Castellón fire officials report that in addition to the changing wind, there are other factors that are making the extinction work difficult, such as the orography and the dry forest mass due to the lack of rain in the area.

Spain’s state weather agency (Aemet) has reported that the weather conditions in the area of ​​the fire are "unfavourable" for so early in the year, leading to circumstances that "have led to the rapid spread" of the fire.